


Secrets Bleed Through

by geekyjez



Category: Dragon Age (Video Games), Dragon Age - All Media Types, Dragon Age: Inquisition
Genre: F/M, Slice of Life
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-12-28
Updated: 2014-12-28
Packaged: 2018-03-04 00:00:48
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,383
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2892944
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/geekyjez/pseuds/geekyjez
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>(Suggested Cullen X Lavellan, Early Solas x Lavellan) Set soon after the fall of Haven. Sera, Cole, Solas and Lavellan wander the southern reaches of the Hinterlands by Lothering. Travelling with Cole, the newest addition to their team, can be complicated. A calmer slice-of-life ficlet.</p><p>NOTE: NO LONGER PART OF THE ISII LAVELLAN CANON.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Secrets Bleed Through

**Author's Note:**

> I consider this a "retired" fic. It was one of my first fan fictions I ever wrote after a loooong haitus and I did not feel as though it fit my standards. [A Simple Meal](http://archiveofourown.org/works/4358630) was written as its replacement.

Sera sucked on her teeth, thinking. “What about Team Shite Weather?”

“Why must there be a name for our pairing?” Solas asked. His calm tone did not hide the irritated edge that inevitably crept into his voice the longer he traveled with Sera.

“Because she’s always dragging you along with her, that’s why. Gonna hit the Storm Coast? Better take Solas. Hitting up those noble shites in Val Royeaux? Better take along Solas. Cause we all know how much those big wigs like knife-ears.” Solas and Isii both shot her a look. “What? I can say it if I want to. It’s our word, innit? She does her lightning thing and you’ve got that snowy frost stuff. Seems like there’s a theme. Themes get team names.”

Solas muttered in Elvish under his breath. Isii let out a stifled laugh. He glanced over to her, quietly appreciative that his small jab did not go unrecognized. Sera scowled, looking him over suspiciously. “What’d he just say?”

“It was nothing, Sera.” Isii said dismissively, continuing along the path. She could hear the woman grumbling as she fell back behind her, something about porridge and piss.

“Seriously, Inquisitor.” She began again. “I don’t get it. You can’t be keeping him around for the lively conversations; unless you find that ancient Elven shite interesting. Then again, the Dalish get off on that sort of thing, yeah?”

Isii did not have a chance to respond before Cole began to mutter, his voice trembling. “Ogre skin smells like mold in the barn. He is lifted into the air. The ground is inevitable.” Cole stared wide-eyed into the rocky field they were passing. “He feels anger, more than fear. The twin, the one like Father. He wants to blame her for all of this. Running. Hiding. And the other one, the one who soars like their namesake. The hard punch to his face when he stole her toy. Why aren’t they running? The last thing he hears is his mother screaming his name.”

“Ugh.” Sera grunted, her lip curling into a sneer. “It’s been doing that all fuckin’ day.”

“Stop calling him It.” Isii chided. “He has a name.”

Sera sniffed loudly. “It can call itself whatever it wants, Inquisitor. It don’t change things. I can call myself a ham sandwich all I like. Won’t make it true.”

Sera did not hide the fact that she was uncomfortable with the newest addition to their team. It was not surprising. Sera rarely held her tongue when someone rubbed her the wrong way. With Solas, her dislike manifested in endless needling to try and provoke a reaction out of him. She did not tease Cole, however. She seemed wary of him. The spirit recognized this and kept his distance.

It was fascinating to watch as Sera would occasionally forget him. She would relax a bit more, speak more openly. Then she would suddenly become aware of Cole beside her and let out a string of startled curses, the young man shirking away. Isii suspected this was because Cole didn’t know what to make of Sera’s hostility; that he made himself fade from her consciousness to cope with his discomfort. She intended to speak to Solas in private to see if he reached the same conclusion. She often deferred to him when it came to Cole. The young man, or rather the spirit in a man’s form, found it difficult to speak openly about much of anything. Isii hoped this would change if she used a gentle touch in her interactions with him.

“Cole,” Isii began softly, “are you alright?”

“There is so much that lingers here.” Cole said woefully. “Past and present. Monsters. Wardens. Templars. Mages. Blood and fear. It is hard to separate them all. Some of it is pure terror, others are the more normal hurts – broken hearts and guilty secrets. They’re all mixing like ink dripped in water.”

“This stretch near the Imperial Highway was one of the first attacked after the defeat at Ostagar.” Solas explained quietly. “With the current conflict still in the Hinterlands, I’d imagine it may feel a little overwhelming to our friend. Do not dwell on past hurts, Cole. They are already at peace.”

“We won’t be here much longer.” Isii reassured him as they neared camp. “We’ll be heading back to Skyhold soon.”

The atmosphere in the camp was relatively relaxed. Many of the soldiers sent to hold this encampment had recently been transferred from the Fallow Mire. A few seemed to struggle with not treating their reassignment as a vacation. Closer to Redcliffe, things had grown significantly calmer, but they were pressing their holdings farther south. There were new dangers awaiting them here and Isii needed her soldiers to be ready for anything. Still, being able to return for the night to a warm fire and soldiers that were not resting on the edge of their nerves was a welcome change.

They dropped their gear, each of them settling comfortably around the fire to warm away the chill of the early winter air. The cold here was nothing compared to the Frostback Mountains, but Isii’s lithe limbs still struggled to adjust to the harsher temperatures. The Free Marches where her clan had roamed was more temperate than Ferelden. Solas had noticed her frequent shivering early on in their time at Haven and had taught her how to summon a dampened fire spell to return sensation to her chilled fingertips. It was a kindness she had not forgotten. Without it, she might not have survived her escape the night Haven fell. The memory was still too fresh in her mind – the blinding terror of combat and the hopeless emptiness she felt as she dragged herself through the howling wastes of the mountainside. She had never felt as much relief as she had the moment she awoke to feel the warmth of Solas’s hands on her cheeks.

Another kindness she would not forget.

She eagerly dug in as food was brought to them. Someone must have been on the hunt today, as their supper consisted of a pottage filled with some form of meat. Despite her distaste for most human cuisine, it was a refreshing change from the flavorless soaked oats and dried fruit that they normally held in their camp supplies. Cole took the serving offered to him, though he appeared to not know precisely what to do with it. One of the soldiers trotted over to meet Isii as she ate, his face flush with anxiety. She had made a point to try and learn the faces of her soldiers, if not their names, but she did not recognize this shem. He must have been a newer recruit. “Inquisitor, a message from Commander Cullen arrived for you.” The soldier said, holding out a tightly-clutched parchment. Isii took the letter and dismissed him, sending him jogging back into the further reaches of camp.

“The greenies are always so twitchy around you, ain’t they?” Sera mused as Isii glanced over the message. “So, what’s our favorite fluffy-haired jackboot got for you now?”

Isii glanced up from the page. “I’d really prefer it if you didn’t call him that.”

“That’s what he is, ain’t he?” Sera shrugged. “I guess you’d know better. You do spend an awful lot of time with him.”

Isii’s eyes narrowed, a small smile on her lips. “Implying something, Sera?”

Sera grinned mischievously through her half-swallowed mouthful of pottage. “Should I be? There are rumors, you know.”

“And I’m certain you had no part in spreading them.”

Sera snorted, laughing through her nose. “Probably not.”

“It just says he needs to speak to me urgently upon our return.” Isii said, putting down the letter. “I know he was looking into leads on where the red lyrium supplies were coming from. I’m hoping this means he’s found something.”

“Yeah. Sure.” Sera snarked.

Isii shook her head, returning to her meal. This was simply more of Sera’s needling. She should not encourage it any further by responding. Cullen was a friend. Nothing more. To argue this would make her seem defensive, give more weight to the rumor than there needed to be. Perhaps she had allowed herself a few moments of flirtation – he did have a way of stammering in response that she found endearing and making him blush was far too easy not to be tempting. He was pleasing to the eye and she enjoyed his company, but there was little more to it than that.

The conversation drifted slowly away from the subject of the Commander. Cole did not speak much at all, except when he began to pick up on some of the hurt that she imagined must be constantly swarming around his consciousness. He murmured mournfully about a man on the run, something about escaping a tower for the fifth time and haunting isolating memories of being locked away. Isii imagined how exhausting that must be, being endlessly bombarded with other people’s pain.

Solas was relatively quiet, speaking only when spoken to. This was normal for him. When Isii first met him, she could not help but take it as some slight that he did not seem interested in addressing her when they were in mixed company. It had surprised her how openly he spoke when she first approached him in private; how passionate he became when she inquired about his interests. She liked him best in those moments. As the weeks passed, she found herself trying to find excuses to catch him alone. It was like watching a mask fall away. He became a different person around her. It was a subtle change, but one she noticed. The larger his audience was, the more tight-lipped he became. He spoke when he felt it was important to do so. She had learned that this was simply his way.

It did mean that Sera was the only one left who could drive the conversation forward, however. Isii did not dislike Sera, but it was difficult to get past her bizarre attitudes towards elves. Her comments on the subject of their people often set the Inquisitor’s teeth on edge. Still, she was quick to laugh and enthusiastic about telling tales of her life of crime, so she made for entertaining company. If nothing else, her creative use of obscenities served as an interesting vocabulary lesson.

Cole disrupted one of Sera’s stories as he began to mumble again, his gaze distant. “It is only fascination, not infatuation. The feeling should not be. Has no place. Too many secrets, hidden away behind mirrors and time. There was no future for it. Do not pursue it further. But then, he sees. A touch that lingers longer than it should. Smiling conversations that die down when others draw near. Private moments that he wants for himself. Jealousy is irrational. Irrelevant. But it lingers like an itch that cannot be soothed. Why would a Templar look at a mage like that?”

Sera snorted. “Pickin’ up on some angsty bullshit from a Circle mage then, are ya? I read a book like that once. Utter trash.” She shot a look over to Solas, scowling. “And yes. I can read.”

Isii noted how Solas had stiffened in his seat by the fire. Her eyes narrowed and she watched him. The flinch had been subtle, but noticeable. He kept his gaze down, finishing his meal. When he finally did lift his eyes to meet hers, his expression appeared genuinely calm and unmoved. Perhaps she had misread him. It wouldn’t be the first time and probably not the last.

He politely excused himself to his tent. “Hamen atisha, Lethallin.” She said as he rose. A small smile curled on his lips. He seemed pleased whenever she called him lethallin. They had only recently begun to use the term with one another. It felt right to refer to each other as close friends. That’s what they were at this point, after all. It seemed like such a little thing to do and she liked watching him get so much enjoyment out of such a small gesture.

When her gaze returned to the fire, she saw Cole had disappeared. She still had not gotten used to him suddenly vanishing from view when he no longer wished to be seen. It made for a deadly trait on the battlefield, but it was somewhat unnerving to think he could be watching her at any time without her knowledge. Isii yawned, stretching as she rose. She was not looking forward to another night of Sera’s snoring. For the moment, her tent mate seemed less interested in resting and more intent to corral one of the soldiers into a round of Wicked Grace. Isii hoped that sleep would take her before Sera’s funds or patience wore out.

Solas sat quietly in his tent, eyes closed, taking a moment to collect his thoughts. He sensed Cole beside him; felt the muted pressure of the Fade pressing in on the fabric of the waking world. He left his eyes closed, staying still, allowing the silence to settle in between them. The spirit may prove to be a problem. He liked Cole, but he had not anticipated how easily he could voice the thoughts of others. He would have to remember to be more careful. When he opened his eyes, Cole was nothing more than a pale face crouched in the corner of the tent, staring at him much like a kicked dog nervously begging for approval. He could not be irritated with the spirit. It was not his fault. He was only behaving in a manner true to his nature.

He chose his words carefully before he spoke. “There are reasons why certain things are left unsaid, Cole.”

“I meant no harm in it.”

“I know.” He replied calmly. It had unnerved him to have his mind read aloud for others to hear, for her to hear, but there was little to be done about it. The smoothest course of action was not to claim the thoughts as his own. It had been a minor slip. Of the things he could have revealed, this was insignificant.

He simply found her interesting, like studying an artifact of surprising complexity. He could not allow it to become anything more than that.

**Author's Note:**

> -The whole idea for this was because I started calling my Inquisitor and Solas “Team Shite Weather” given that I gave him a specialization in frost and her a focus on lightning. And I rarely go anywhere without him in my party.
> 
> -They are on the outskirts of Lothering. Cole is picking up on Carver’s death in the beginning.
> 
> -The man on the run from a tower? I could imagine that Anders probably ran to the south on one of his many temporary escapes from the Circle. Because why not put a little Anders in this otherwise unrelated ficlet?
> 
> ***
> 
> Translation:
> 
> hamen atisha – literally “rest peaceful”, in place of sleep well 
> 
> ***


End file.
